1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates in general to web browsers, and in particular, to an optimized HyperText Markup Language (HTML) viewer for displaying information in a convenient, newspaper-like, multi-column format.
2. Description of Related Art
Traditionally, HTML viewers manifest themselves as Internet browsers. As such, they generally enforce a xe2x80x9cone size fits allxe2x80x9d philosophy for viewing data on the Internet. Some data, particularly long documents or a series of documents, are often more appropriately viewed in a format similar to that of a newspaper or magazine. The reason for this is that the human eye can follow text in narrow columns more easily than wide columns.
In current browsers, documents are formatted according to the width of the browser window, and continue on for some arbitrary vertical length. (This is referred to as the xe2x80x9ctoilet-paperxe2x80x9d model of text formatting, because the logical xe2x80x9cpaperxe2x80x9d onto which the text is formatted can be thought of as a roll of paper, rather than sheets of paper).
It can be seen, then, that there is a need in the art for an improved HTML viewer that presents HTML documents (or plain text documents) in a multi-column format.
To overcome the limitations in the prior art described above, and to overcome other limitations that will become apparent upon reading and understanding the present specification, the present invention discloses an optimized HTML viewer that displays documents and other information in a convenient, newspaper-like, multi-column format. The optimized HTML viewer also supports viewing one or many documents simultaneously, wherein the user has the option to append a new document to the end of a currently displayed document. Moreover, the viewer scrolls by whole columns. Finally, images in documents are scaled as necessary and tables are intelligently broken across multiple columns at row boundaries.
An object of the present invention is to provide more flexibility and user control in HTML viewers and thus eliminate the xe2x80x9cone size fits allxe2x80x9d philosophy for viewing data on the Internet. Another object is to provide a HTML viewer that is more appropriate for viewing long documents or a series of documents on the Internet.